“We talked about that. I told you that if you had to do it to make her believe you, then you should.”
He shook his head. “I know and I tried, but the moment her lips touched mine, I couldn’t stop thinking about you. I didn’t want to be there. I felt sick, so I ran out of the room. When I finally got myself together, she was having more doubts about my intentions. She offered to get me a drink to settle my nerves. Miranda, the last thing I remember is drinking that drink. I swear to God that I never wanted to touch that bitch.”
This time when I pulled my hand away, he didn’t try to stop me. “Then you tell me how I have pictures of you enjoying every inch of her.”
“I don’t know. All I can think is that she put something in my drink. She had to.”
He has got to be crazy if he thinks I am going to let him talk his way out of this. I saw the pictures!
I held my hand up. “Stop! Please, I can’t hear anymore. You do realize you are telling me that you never cheated on me. The pictures show you holding her legs while you’re feasting out. Stop the bullshit lies. I’m not Van, who had no clue what you did behind her back. I know you Ty.”
He looked at me like I was causing him real pain. “I’m telling you the truth, you can ask C……”
“I can ask who? Was there a third person in the room with you? Was it a threesome?” Maybe Heather got her slutty little friend to come over. She’d done it before.
“Hell no! Jesus Christ Miranda, do you think that low of me?”
“Do you really want me to answer that right this second?” He really didn’t.
“I woke up naked in her bed and got the hell out of there. I didn’t even bother putting on a fucking shirt, Miranda. I ran out of there as fast as I could.”
I slammed my hand down on the bed. “Just stop talking, Ty. I can’t hear anymore.”
“I’m telling you the truth. Look at me. Does it look like I’m lying to you?” He did look sincere.
“Obviously, I don’t know how to read you like I thought I did. You’ve been lying to me for months. What am I supposed to think? What exactly did you think would happen? That story makes you seem so innocent in all of this, yet I saw the pictures.”
He reached for my arm and I pulled away. “I know it’s hard to believe, but it’s the truth. I will spend every single day trying to prove it to you. Our family means everything to me. Tell me you at least believe that.”
I wanted to disagree with him, but it would have been a lie. I knew how much we did mean to him. In fact, I knew he would give his own life for me and the kids. It wasn’t Ty’s love that I doubted, it was his ability to be faithful to me. His story wasn’t exactly what I expected him to say. How could he make up a story that made him seem completely innocent. I would have loved for that story to be true, more than anything in the world, I wanted it, but it was just too easy. He couldn’t explain the pictures and they were what were permanently memorized in my head. “I know you love us, Ty. Your love for me is what makes all of this so hard, you know that. I don’t understand how you could love me so much, but do the one thing you knew would rip us apart.”
This time Ty got up from the chair and walked to the other side of the room. I’d seen him pace a million times, pondering on important decisions. Sometimes he would even bite his nails, but this time something was different. He’d obviously suffered the most emotional day of his life yesterday and to make matters worse, we weren’t even sure where we stood as far as our relationship.
I knew I was going home with him. I would keep that promise to him and try to make things work, but trusting Ty was going to be a feat for me. It meant everything to me and now it was gone. How was I supposed to start over?
My recovery wasn’t going to be as easy as when I had Bella. I knew I would need his help and that someone from our family would always be around. I didn’t know if Ty had told Van about what was going on, and if he did, I didn’t care. She was our best friend and I expected that, but I didn’t want anyone else to know. Sure, she would tell Colt, but they would keep it between them. Our secrets always ended up involving the four of us, which in some ways made things easier to get through. We always had someone else to talk to.
He continued to pace around my little area without speaking to me. We were both mad at each other and I wasn’t ready to make nice. I didn’t want to lose him either.
“Ty?”
“What?”
“I need you here with me right now and I need you by my side when we’re raisin’ our children. I’m goin’ to need you to fight alongside me when we go to court about Bella.” My stomach and back were starting to ache and the pain was getting to be hard to talk through. “I’m so mad at you right now, I’m not goin’ to lie about it, but I also know that I can’t live without you. I know it’s goin’ to be hard for you, but I’m askin’ you to give me time to heal. I’m askin’ you to keep lovin’ me even when I’m bein’ horrible. I can’t promise that when I’m feelin’ better I’m not goin’ to freak on you at random times. I know I pushed you to go there that night and I want to believe your story, Ty, because it would mean that you never cheated on me, but we both know I can’t.”
He still wouldn’t turn to look at me. “I hate that you don’t believe me.”
“I’m sorry.” I just couldn’t.
“You’re all I’ve ever wanted. I didn’t know it at first, but once I had you, I knew it right away. I can’t breathe without you, do you get that?” Ty still wouldn’t turn around.
Hearing him say that actually took my breath away. I still had the tubes in my nose, but they were turned down enough where I had to take a deep breath. “Yes.”
Finally, he turned around. His lips were pushed firmly together and he looked so hurt. “I was a shitty boyfriend, everyone knows that, but you were never just my girlfriend, I always saw you as my future. I’ve never been surer about anything except being Izzy’s father. You can doubt my story all you want, but it’s the fucking truth. You think you are the only one hurt here, but for the past two months I have been consumed with guilt. Every single time I looked at you, I saw what I knew I would eventually lose. Do you have any idea how hard it was for me to be happy, when I knew it was only a matter of time? As far as being there for you, well you never had to even ask that, because there is no way in hell I would ever let you go. Just so you know, before I heard about the accident, I had already made my mind up that if you moved back to Kentucky, I was moving there too. I can’t live without you, Miranda.”
He would follow me to Kentucky? He would leave his parents and his farm? It had to be for the kids.
“You’d do that for your kids?”
“No Miranda, I’d do it for you, for us and for our family. I’d follow you anywhere.”
God, I wanted to believe him. I wanted to wrap my arms around him and never let go. He meant every word of what he was saying. I could feel it in every inch of my fragile body.
I reached for my husband and he just stood there far enough away that I couldn’t touch him. “Ty, I know you’re hurting too. I don’t know what the future holds, but every part of me has to believe that God wouldn’t have saved me if he didn’t have plans for us. All I’m asking is for time.”
Ty shook his head and sat back down in the chair. He traced over my wedding ring with his fingers. “I’m sorry, but all I can offer you is forever.”
I looked up when I got the sarcastic answer and he winked at me. “Forever is a good start.”
“I know you aren’t ready to forgive me, but I think we should seal this agreement with a kiss.”
I rolled my eyes. “Don’t push your luck.”
I wasn’t ready to forget about any of it, in fact, I didn’t know if I was ever going to be able to, but as much as I was upset for myself, I hated to see him suffering too. Maybe it was wrong for me to give him some kind of false hope when I wasn’t sure myself, but I did it anyway.
It was a good thing that the doctor came in to check on me, because
I wasn’t really certain what else I wanted to say to my husband. The meds were making me mellow, but I knew once I stopped taking them that it was only going to be a matter of time before I went all psychotic on Ty. He was strong and would take anything I threw at him. Not just because he was trying to make it up to me, but because he somehow got off on me being mad at him.
Thinking about him being turned on made me think of him being with Heather, which in turn brought my focus back to the doctor, who had been trying to get an answer out of me the whole time.
“I’m sorry, what did you say?”
“On a scale of one to ten, how is your pain right now?” He had sat down in a chair on the other side from where Ty sat and was looking down at my chart.
“I guess it’s about a six. I itch more than anything.”
He stood up and removed the blanket to check on my stomach. I felt a cold chill as the air in the room hit my body. My robe was being pushed up to my chest so that he could examine my stomach. I closed my eyes as I felt him lightly touching where my staples were. It was instantly warm again as he covered me back up and wrote something down on my chart. “Okay, as of right now, we are going to monitor you for another six to eight hours. If your condition continues to improve, we can get you moved to a regular room as early as tomorrow morning.”
“Thank you.”
“Of course you will still need to be hooked to your IV’s. One is giving you fluids and the other is giving you blood. We are hoping your levels will be good enough tomorrow to stop with the blood. You’re making great progress, but you will need to be on antibiotics for at least ten to fourteen days to fight off any kind of infection. Do you have any other questions for me?”
Ty cleared his throat. “Actually, I have one.”
The doctor kept looking down writing in my chart. “Ask away.”
“My wife hasn’t seen our newborn twins. I’m sure you can imagine how hard it is for her knowing they are so close and she can’t get to them. Is there any way possible that we can let her see them? I know it’s probably against every regulation, but they are the only babies in the NICU and I think if she could see them it would help speed up her recovery on account of her wanting to get better to be with them.”
The doctor smiled and started shaking his head in disbelief at Ty’s long excuse as to why I should be able to see my babies. “Let me see what I can do.”
Ty stuck his hand across my bed and shook the doctor’s hand. “We’d appreciate that. I mean, I’d hate to have to smuggle them in here under my clothes.”
The doctor froze and just looked at Ty like he was crazy. Maybe he actually thought Ty was serious. At any rate, he walked away shaking his head again.
“I think he believed me.” Ty started laughing as a new nurse approached my bed.
She smiled and handed me a cup full of pills. “You need to take these for the pain. They will probably make you tired.”
I took the pills and handed her back the little cup. “Thanks.”
“If you need anything just hit your button.” She pointed to the red button attached to my bed.
Ty leaned over and grabbed the button. “Push it now.”
I slapped his hand. “Why would I do that?”
“Just for something fun to do. I can’t believe there is no television in this room. What are we supposed to do?”
“You’d rather watch that than talk to me?”
Without asking, he leaned over and kissed me on the mouth. “I didn’t say that. I also didn’t want to push my luck. Yesterday I thought I lost you forever, for more reasons than one, I think we have had enough of the serious talk for one night, plus you don’t believe anything I say anyway.”
“I’m going to fall asleep soon.”
He gave me a half smile but looked disappointed. “I know you need your rest, but I like it when you’re awake.”
“Help me scoot over.”
“Why, are you in pain?” He seemed concerned.
“No, I want you to lay with me. I just want to be close to you, like we’re at home and none of this is happening.”
Slowly, I began using my hands to shift my body to the side, but Ty went over to that side and pulled the sheet so I slid without having to move my body. “Thank you, Miranda, even if we’re pretending.”
“For what, pretending what?”
“For loving me even when you should hate me.”
“I will always love you, Ty. I couldn’t stop if I wanted to.”
He climbed in slowly next to me, being super gentle around my body. “Do you want to stop?”
“Loving you? Well, when I saw those pictures and heard what that bitch was saying about you, yes, I really did, but the further I drove away from you and as soon as I got into the accident, you were the only person I wanted by my side.”
He intertwined our fingers together and kissed my cheek. “Don’t ever stop. Please don’t ever leave me.”
Ty being there with me kept my mind off of not being able to see my boys. I knew the family was with them and I appreciate it, but I wanted to be in there. It wasn’t fair that they held my boys before me.
So, not only was I dealing with my husband and his alleged affair, but I was missing out on the first day of my sons lives and I had sixty staples going across my stomach. Thanks to the medication, I wasn’t in any pain physically, but I ached for my babies and everything else that was breaking my heart.
I had Ty, for as long as I wanted him around. A part of me wanted him to suffer for hurting me, but I also couldn’t imagine hurting him the way I hurt. I wanted to doubt his love, instead I found myself wanting to believe him. Aside from this one time, he’d never given me one instance of doubt in our entire relationship.
I was so confused.
Chapter 25
Ty
I should have known that telling my side of the story was just going to upset Miranda. I mean, who would have believed that story? I couldn’t imagine what was going through her head, or how she had enough love for me to want to stay together. I knew that most of the reason was for our children, even though she claimed to still love me.
I had to put my feelings aside and worry about my family. Miranda’s condition was improving, but until she was out of the hospital, I was going to worry. The twins were so little and I guess some people would have been afraid to hold them, but I knew in my heart that we could take care of them and they were strong.
My mother was home every day and she was all ready to babysit whenever Miranda decided to go back to work. I wished she would just stay home, but she liked to get out a few days a week. I enjoyed being able to see her at lunch time on those days so there were positives to her working.
With my wife’s hand laced into mine, I rested my head against hers and let myself rest. Even after the accident and more than a day without a shower, her hair still smelled familiar. Our marriage wasn’t on the best of terms, but in that moment, I felt like it was.
I woke up to my phone vibrating and a very angry nurse looking down at me. I slipped out of bed and stood in front of her.
“Your wife is in no condition to be sharing her space. You could have hurt her worse.”
I stuck my finger in her face. “My wife wanted me to lay with her and after thinking she was dead, I needed to be close to her too. I wouldn’t do anything to harm her.”
She shook her head and put her hands on her hips. “Please put your finger down, Sir. We are breaking the rules letting you stay in here longer than normal visiting hours already, so I appreciate you following at least some of the rules. I came here to check Mrs. Mitchell’s vitals so that we could take her to see her sons.”
I put my hands in my pockets and shut the hell up real fast. Miranda turned her head to face us and I could see that she was smiling. I smiled back at her, feeling my heart race when I thought about her seeing our boys for the first time.
The nurse did what she needed to do and wrote everything down in the chart before releasing the wheel
s on Miranda’s bed. A male nurse came over and started situating both the bag of blood and fluids so that they could roll beside the bed as they moved her. “Am I going right now?” Miranda pulled her free hand up to mess with her hair. It was silly that she was worried about what she looked like.
“We’re moving you to a private room and then the babies will be brought in there with you.”
I grabbed Miranda’s hand and squeezed it. Her smile filled the room and I was ecstatic for her. “You ready to meet the cutest boys on the planet?”
“Yes.”
“Baby, wait til you see what my awesome sperm created.”
Miranda started laughing at my wise crack, but I caught the nurses rolling their eyes. I hated people with no sense of humor. Maybe they were just pissed cause my sperm was so awesome. I didn’t really give a shit about their opinion anyway.
“You know, I helped create them too,” Miranda added.
I leaned down and stole a kiss, before she could turn away. “I remember every single moment of that process.”
We had to walk really slow since each of us had some kind of object in our hands that was attached somehow to Miranda’s bed or body. By the time we got to the maternity ward, I saw my mom, Conner and his mom standing in the hallway talking to Van and Colt. I lifted my head, since my hands were too full to wave. A cocked eyebrow could be seen from Miranda’s mother. She knew something was going on between us. I was so glad Miranda hadn’t told her the truth.
It wasn’t like I’d gone out and purposely cheated on my wife. Even if she refused to believe me, I never would have done that.
Everyone had to stand outside of the room until we got Miranda situated and then they insisted that she try to eat something before she was overwhelmed with visitors. Once they did come in, the room filled with voices and Miranda seemed to be happy to see everyone. I caught her looking at me a couple of times and I knew it was because she wanted to meet our sons without the commotion of everyone around us.
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